Philadelphia, Pa. – A day after sweeping La Salle at Tom Gola Arena, the Fordham volleyball team saw the Explorers snap its five-match win streak in a thrilling five set match. The two schools traded blows all afternoon but La Salle took it, 24-26, 26-24, 25-27, 25-19, 16-14. With the loss, the Rams fall to 5-2 overall and 5-1 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Explorers improve to 5-1 in both.
"Great learning experience for us." Head coach
Ian Choi said, "I'm happy to face it now, especially as a young team. It was a unique experience to see our offense tested. It challenged our resilience and team cohesion."
From the opening point, a
Megan Brzozowski ace, the match was evenly contested throughout. At no point did either team hold more than a six-point advantage and usually the margin was within three. The Explorers racked up 72 kills to Fordham's 49, though the Rams reached double-digit blocks for a fifth time, tallying 10.0 to La Salle's 3.5.
Freshman
Whitley Moody enjoyed her first 20-kill performance in the loss with 62 attacks, hitting .161 with nine digs and two aces. The Rams recorded a season-high 12 aces on the day. Brzozowski finished with a 39-assist, 13-dig effort, adding two blocks, while
Isabel Fichtel led the way with seven.
Joey Landeros added five blocks and
Aria De La Rosa had three, one solo.
McKenna Lahr was second with eight kills followed by Fichtel's seven and De La Rosa's six.
Mallory Lipski served up a career-high-matching four aces to go with her team-high 18 digs.
The Rams only have two more matches in their regular season – both against Rhode Island, home and away. Rhody comes to the Bronx first on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
